Antibiotic nodusmicin (U-59,761) is producible in a fermentation under controlled conditions using a biologically pure culture of the microbe Saccharopolyspora hirsuta strain 367, NRRL 12045. This antibiotic is active against various bacteria, including Mycobacterium avium, S. lutea, K. pneumoniae, B. fragilis, and C. perfringens.
Our work to derive the structural formula for nodusmicin also enabled us to determine the structure for antibiotic U-59,760. We have determined that U-59,760 is the 9-O-pyrrole-2-carbonyl ester of nodusmicin.
The physical and chemical characteristics of U-59,760 cannot be distinguished from the antibiotic known as compound 47,444 which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,148,883. Compound 47,444 is identified in U.S. Pat. No. 4,148,883 by its physical and chemical characteristics, as well as antimicrobial activity. The production of compound 47,444 in U.S. Pat. No. 4,148,883 is accomplished by an entirely different microbe, a Nocardia, than the S. hirsuta which produces nodusmicin. A recent publication in the Journal of the American Chemical Society discloses the structure of compound 47,444. See JACS, 102:12, June 4, 1980, pp. 4203-4209.